Ice Cube has been pushing for his 10th studio album, Everythang’s Corrupt, since 2012. He prematurely announced a release date of May 13, 2014, but it never came to fruition. Cube revealed in an interview with HipHopDX the album was intended to appeal to “political heads.” The LP was named after a 2013 single Ice Cube provided for NCIS: Los Angeles The Original TV Soundtrack. Ice Cube’s last solo record was I Am the West, which released September of 2010. Last year, he included some new songs (and videos) on the 25th-anniversary edition of Death Certificate.

In 2016, Cube told AllHipHop why the album has been delayed. “I had to put it down for a minute to finish these movies and make sure they were right. To make sure Ride Along 2 was right, Barbershop and Straight Outta Compton – and this is going to be the end of it. I did a movie called Fist Fight. I just didn’t want to spread myself too thin. Finish these movies and finish this promotion and then finish the record and put it out.”

Last Friday is the proposed fourth and final film in the Friday series. It’s been a hard, long work-in-progress for Cube to follow up 2002’s Friday After Next with his vision of a grand finale. Cube’s addressed interest in a final Friday in multiple interviews, dating as far back as a 2007 HOT 97 appearance, and as recent as last year on N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN’s Drink Champs podcast. Just last month Mike Epps and Ice Cube were seen together via Mike Epps’ Instagram, possibly with Last Friday looming.

The series’ biggest problem has been nabbing Chris Tucker to reprise his role as “Smokey.” Friday’s sequels, Next Friday and Friday After Next, replaced Smokey’s character with Mike Epps’ “Day-Day Jones.” Many fans of the original Friday rejected the idea of Ice Cube’s “Craig Jones” character having a sidekick who wasn’t played by the loud mouth, fast-talking Chris Tucker. Furthermore, Cube has expressed how vital Tucker is to the Friday formula, despite Tucker only appearing in the first film. “I didn’t want to [make a sequel]. I was like, ‘Man, no Chris [Tucker]? Man, what is this movie [going to look like]?’ It’s like…you’re losing a major piece, like Shaq and Kobe breaking up. ‘How could y’all win championships [now]?,’ Cube confessed last year in his appearance on Drink Champs.

Back in February, Tucker confirmed on ESPN podcast The Plug that he’s going to be returning to his role as “Detective James Carter” for Rush Hour 4, a sequel to Rush House 3 which released in 2007. When asked about Last Friday, he commented: “[It is] not necessarily money, just [about] making sense. Like the first [Friday]. At that time, it made sense for me, because it was my shot to get into movies and prove I could act. At this point, I want to make sure that it’s the right thing to do, ’cause you don’t want to do something for money if it’s not the right thing to do. ‘Cause then it disappoints fans.”